Running head: Winfred Margaret Knights

Winfred Margaret Knights

British (1899-1947)
The deluge, 1920
Oil paint on canvas
Tate Museum purchased, 1989

Running head: Winfred Margaret Knights

Biographical information of the artist

Winifred Knights came from a middle class family in the Streatham suburbs of South London,
from where she grew to become a beautiful woman acknowledged for her basic sense of style
(Eckersley and Rosanna, 2015). For instance, she would put on her hair in the renaissance
bombshell manner, just like in the Leonardo da Vincis portrait of La belle Ferronniere.
Extensively talented in drawing, Winifred Knights went on to become a remarkable book
illustrator from where she joined Slade (art school) in the year 1915. Upon being mentored by
her tough drawing tutor -by the name Henry Tonks, she swiftly turned into a star student.
Nonetheless, at her thirties, Winifred Knights gave away her career to frustrations. She had
increasingly suffered from anxiety that had troubled her after she suffered a breakdown brought
about by the 1917 Zeppelin air raids (Eckersley and Rosanna, 2015). As a result, in the year
1934, following her sons birth, Winifred Knights effectively stopped painting. Despite her
remarkable work in the painting and drawing art, it is unfortunate how such a talented artist was
for so long neglected. Among her remarkable art is the deluge.
The historic context
With animals and frieze of figures calmly entering the ark in the placid and the foreground,
Nights modelled a painting that described the historical flood in the bible featuring Noah and his
family. Frenzied figures fleeing the engulfing waters towards the hill and the windowless ark
floating silently seen in the distance casts the image of biblical flooding (Avery-Quash and
Susanna, 2016). The sharp diagonal lines casts a sense of vigorous and active movement and
motions across the canvas. This was a reminiscent of Vorticist experiment carried out by Edward
Wadsworth (1889-1949) and David Bomberg (1890-1957) prior to the World War 1.

Running head: Winfred Margaret Knights

Artistic movement of time

The deluge referred to the flood myth or basically a narration of a great flood sent by the deity in
which civilisation is destroyed. In order to complete the Rome scholarship, schooling students
were required to paint their individual imaginary scene of the great flood myth known as the
deluge as a competition for the scholarship. A panel of exactly ten judges was provided. In the
case of Winifred; John Singer Sargent, David Young Cameron, Philip Wilson Steer and George
Clausen were among the judges. From seventeen contestants, Winifred Nights was among the
top three contestants: Arthur Outlaw and James Wilkie. The theme of the painting: the deluge
was assigned the final prize. The painting was to be in tempera or oil, size 6 by 5 feet and the
painting was to be complete in an eight weeks period (Winifred Knights 1899-1947, p.17).
Commencing on 5th July, Winifred Knights deluge version assumed various versions. She began
her painting on July 5th 1920. At first, her painting assumed a foreground of Noahs scene,
whereby Noah and his family were loading paired animals into an ark. Nonetheless, upon
running out of time, she opted to simplify her painting with that of people escaping towards the
higher ground while freeing the fall and the rising waters. As such, an air similar to that of Noah
can be identified in the distant right edge of the painting. In the painting, nights would go on and
portray her family caught up in the thrill of the great flood (Hallett and Florence, 2016). Her
mother was portrayed as the central figure holding the baby. Alongside her mother was the man
scrapping up the mountain. This man was Arnold Mason, her then partner. Winifred Knights
would then portray herself as a figure in the right side centre of the foreground (Winifred Knights
1899-1947, p.16). Finally, among other notable painting, the flood water was portrayed as the
Clapham Common. In spite of suffering from eye problems and tonsillitis over the summer as

Running head: Winfred Margaret Knights

well as submitting her work partly unfinished, Knights went on to clinch the award. This marked
her three year scholarship in British school at Rome.
The painting and collection
If at all the British artist is to be remembered today, at all, then it is due to this single picture of
1920 known as the Deluge, in the Tate.

Figure 1: The deluge portrait

Source: Walsh and Roxy (2016)
With its vibrant sideways rhythm, this striking scene of 21 figures climbing a mountain away
from a vast waterfall made Winifred Knights an outstanding name upon winning a prestigious
award for her. With the picture, she was acclaimed as a genius (Winifred Knights 1899-1947,
p.9). This was due to her ability of fusing angular Vorticist modernity with Italian Quattrocento
painting thereby a biblical theme into a lamentation experienced during the world war one. The

Running head: Winfred Margaret Knights

art was remarkable as she had done it at an age of just 21. In fact, her painting was shown in the
Paris Exhibition at the British Pavilion in 1925 (Walsh, Roxy, 2016). Indeed she was headed for
a great future. Winifred Nights work was purchased by Tate with the assistance of Tate Gallery
friends in the year 1989.

Running head: Winfred Margaret Knights

References
Avery-Quash, Susanna. "Winifred Knights." burlington magazine 158 (2016): 755.
Eckersley, Rosanna. A study of Winifred Knights, 1915-1933. Diss. University of East Anglia,
2015.
Hallett, Florence. "An eye for tradition: the British modernist Winifred Knights owed much to
Renaissance techniques." Apollo. Vol. 184. No. 645. Apollo Magazine Ltd., 2016.
Winifred Knights 1899-1947, exhibition catalogue, The British School at Rome, Rome 1995,
reproduced
p.27
in
colour
Walsh, Roxy. "Winifred Knights (1899-1947)." Art and Christianity 87 (2016): 12-14.